Miami Medical Malpractice Lawyers > Miami Birth Injury Lawyer

Miami Birth Injury Lawyer

We Can Help You Get Justice for Your Child!

The birth of a child should be a happy and joyous time. However, when a birth injury occurs due to medical negligence committed by the hospital, obstetrician, doctor or nurse, happiness can turn into devastation. newborn at the hospital

Six to eight of every 1,000 newborn babies will suffer a birth injury. Of those, experts estimate that about one-half could be avoided through the recognition of risk factors during labor, and taking appropriate steps to limit the impact of birth trauma.

The Miami birth injury lawyers at Freidin Brown, P.A. have 100 years of combined experience fighting for rights of the injured throughout South Florida. If your child suffered a birth injury because of a medical mistake, we can help you hold the responsible person accountable while securing the compensation you will need to provide continuing care, rehabilitation, and any other medical services made necessary by the injury. Contact our Florida birth injury lawyers to learn more or call 888-677-7764 to schedule a FREE initial consultation.

How to Identify the Cause of a Birth Injury?

Birth injury or birth trauma is referred to as any damage, injury, or death an infant sustains before, during, and sometimes after the birth. Emergencies can also arise that threaten the life and health of the birth mother. Thousands of cases of birth injuries occur every year in the United States.

While some injuries are simply the result of the natural birthing process and will heal on their own within a few days or weeks, birth injuries that are caused by the negligence of a medical professional can have long-lasting effects which may prevent your child from living a full, happy life.

Birth injuries range in severity and include:

Common causes of infant injuries include pulling or twisting on the baby’s head or arm during delivery, improper use of forceps or a vacuum to aid delivery, delaying an emergency C-section, and failing to recognize signs of distress in the mother or the unborn baby.

Birth injuries caused by medical malpractice can quickly become very complex legal cases. Your child’s future may rest on the outcome of a birth injury lawsuit in terms of providing the financial resources to cover medical expenses, therapy, rehabilitation, medical equipment, and even in-home care made necessary by a doctor’s mistake.

Birth trauma and serious birth injuries come in a variety of forms. When a medical mistake or hospital negligence is to blame for your son’s or daughter’s injuries, the scope of the trauma may depend on what your doctor, nurse, or other member of your birthing team did wrong. At Freidin Brown, P.A., our Miami birth injury lawyers have been collectively helping families recover financial compensation for 100 years.

Some pregnancies are higher risk than others and a birth injury may be more likely if:

The baby is large
The mother’s pelvis is small relative to the size of the baby’s head
The baby is born prematurely
The mother’s labor was difficult or prolonged
The baby is born in a breech position
The mother is expecting twins, triplets, etc.

If your newborn was diagnosed with a birth injury or you suspect that a mistake by your birthing team harmed your child, our Florida birth injury lawyers at Freidin Brown, P.A. welcome your call to discuss what happened.

We offer FREE consultations. Call us at 888-677-7764.

Medical Mistakes, Doctor Negligence, & Nurse Malpractice

You should be able to trust your birthing team to look out for your health as well as the health of your newborn when you begin labor and delivery. While some birth injuries may simply be the result of being born, others may be caused or made worse by the action or inaction of your doctor, your nurse or the hospital where you are delivering.

Medical mistakes or doctor negligence that can cause serious, permanent injury to your newborn include:

Failing to recognize a high-risk pregnancy or anticipate complications related to labor and delivery
Failing to monitor your baby’s fetal heart rate (FHR) or recognize signs of fetal distress
Delaying a medically necessary cesarean section
Misusing forceps or a vacuum extractor during delivery
Inducing labor through inappropriate use of Pitocin
Failing to detect umbilical cord complications such as prolapse
Failing to screen for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)

Your medical team is responsible for providing a safe environment for mothers and babies before, during and after childbirth. Complications that affect the life and health of the mother, such as infection, prolonged bleeding and improper use of anesthetics or epidurals, may also give rise to medical malpractice or, in the worst situations, wrongful death lawsuits.

What are the signs of birth injury?

Our Miami birth injury lawyers at Freidin Brown, P.A. have been fighting for rights of those who have been injured and their families for many years. We have developed a reputation for achieving positive results in medical malpractice cases, holding doctors responsible, getting families the money they need, and working to improve the health care system for everyone.

Common Labor & Delivery Mistakes That May Lead to a Birth Injury

Birth injuries that are caused by a medical mistake are preventable. If your baby was injured during birth, a medical professional who failed to recognize signs of fetal distress may be responsible for injuries to your child caused by:

Labor and delivery complications
Umbilical cord complications
Infant medication errors
Pediatric stroke
A delayed Cesarean section
Oxygen deprivation
Placenta previa or placenta abruption

Doctors, nurses, and hospitals who provide childbirth services must be held responsible when their actions or in-actions amount to medical negligence and result in a birth injury to your infant. Informed health care professional are also expected to diagnose and treat properly any issues that may arise during pregnancy and after childbirth.

Coping with Birth Injuries

Florida Birth Injury Lawyers Finding Resources for Your Baby & Family

The birth of your newborn should be a joyous event. You may have been planning for months, getting the nursery just right, adjusting the car seat, and making sure you have enough diapers to get you through at least the first week home from the hospital. You probably were not thinking about what you would do if your baby was injured during labor and delivery.

At Freidin Brown, P.A., we understand that a birth injury is a life-changing event for your child and your family. We also understand that those first days, weeks or months following serious birth trauma can be stressful, frightening, and frustrating all at the same time. If you have questions about holding a doctor, nurse, hospital or other health care professional responsible for the harm caused to your child, please call our firm at 888-677-7764 for a FREE initial consultation. Our Miami birth injury lawyers can help you understand your right to lifetime benefits for your son or daughter from the professional who caused his or her injury.

How to Cope with a Newborn Birth Injury

Whether your child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, brachial plexus or Erb’s palsy or suffered severe brain damage during childbirth, you are not alone. There are other parents in Florida and throughout the United States who are helping their children live full lives in spite of a birth injury and organizations that can offer financial assistance, counseling, and respite care. Depending on the injury your newborn suffered, he or she may require rehabilitative therapy, including physical, occupational and speech therapy; additional financial resources may be required to provide for those needs.

State and federal benefit programs are available to help offset expenses related to a birth injury, such as:

Medicaid
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Public grant programs

A birth injury affects the whole family. Becoming a primary caregiver to a child with special needs can be exhausting and overwhelming. Seeking out others in similar situations-such as finding a local support group or an online support group for parents of children with similar injuries-may be helpful. Sitting down with your family and discussing the changes and day-to-day struggles and triumphs that each person experiences may help lessen the stress of caring for a special-needs child.

Siblings of special-needs children need to feel important as well. Brothers and sisters may experience ridicule from their peers because of the actions or behaviors of the child with a birth injury. It is often easy to focus so much energy on the child who needs your constant attention that other children may feel left out.

Coping with a Birth Injury May Not Be Easy, But it is Not Impossible.

Every family is different and each person within that family is different. We all deal with stress and unexpected change in our own way. When you first discover that your newborn was injured during childbirth, you may feel angry, scared, worried, and a host of other emotions. You can do this and there is plenty of help available.

Florida Birth Injury FAQs

Injuries suffered by newborns are difficult experiences for families, especially when they have reason to believe those injuries – like many birth injuries – are the result of negligent medical care. Because preventable birth injuries could and should be avoided by reasonably skillful and careful medical professionals, families have a right to explore their options for legal action that can hold health care providers accountable for their negligence, and allow them to secure the justice and compensation they deserve.

Comprised of award-winning trial lawyers who serve clients across the state of Florida, Freidin Brown, P.A. has successfully advocated for families who have been forced to deal with the often life-altering consequences of birth injuries. Over the years, we have used our more than 100 years of combined experience to help clients navigate challenging personal injury and medical malpractice cases, and have recovered millions of dollars in compensation on their behalves. While we make ourselves available 24/7 to help families that want to learn more about their rights and our services, we also know how important it is that victims have the facts they need when they are just beginning to explore their options. That’s why we have taken the time to answer some of the most common birth injury questions we receive below.

What is a birth injury?

Birth injuries refer to any injuries sustained by newborns (or mothers) during labor, delivery, and in some cases pregnancy, and they can range in severity from minor injuries that heal over time to lasting impairments, lifelong disabilities, and injuries that result in death. While some birth injuries are not preventable, many can be avoided if not for the negligence of doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals who fail to meet their duty of care.

What are some examples of birth injuries?

There are numerous types of birth injuries, including many that comprise the basis of birth injury lawsuits filed by victims and families. Common examples include:

Cerebral palsy
Bone fractures
Facial lacerations or paralysis
Brain damage
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
Preeclampsia and Eclampsia
Injuries caused by forceps or vacuums
C-section injuries (including delayed C-section injuries)
Brachial plexus injuries (Erb’s Palsy)
Shoulder Dystocia
Stroke

Many of these injuries can be caused by negligent medical care, including cases of a doctor’s failure to identify or monitor serious complications, negligent use of forceps or vacuum extractors, failure to perform a timely C-section, improper use of labor-inducing drugs (including Pitocin), and other forms of substandard care.

Are birth defects the same as birth injuries?

No, birth defects are distinctly different from birth injuries in that they are present before birth (congenital). Often, birth defects are the result of genetic abnormalities (including those without medical explanation), which means families don’t typically have valid claims for compensation. However, there are some cases where birth defects may have been caused by the negligence of others, particularly in cases involving exposure to harmful substances caused by dangerous drugs or harmful materials. Those cases, unlike birth injury cases, generally focus largely on product liability laws rather than medical malpractice.

What Are The Signs of Birth Injury?

A variety of injuries can occur during the birth of your child. From bruising to broken bones, from severe brain damage to stillbirth, many things can go wrong during labor and delivery and result in lifelong struggles for your newborn and your family.

Not all birth injuries rise to the level of medical malpractice or negligence. If you believe a medical mistake may be to blame for your child’s injuries, our lawyers would be happy to discuss your legal options during a complimentary consultation.

Signs & Symptoms of Birth Injuries in Infants

For every 1,000 births, it is estimated that 6 to 8 newborns will suffer a birth injury. Birth injuries are not the same as birth defects. Injuries typically result when something goes wrong during or shortly after labor and delivery. Often, birth injuries are the result of a negligent birthing team or medical malpractice by your delivery doctor.

Signs your newborn may be suffering from a birth injury:

Newborn is unresponsive to typical stimuli
Odd or unexplained bruises
Deformity
Poor muscle control or spastic movements
Immobility in the arm, leg, or any part of the body
Newborn is delayed in reaching common developmental milestones, such as crawling or sitting up

Some signs of birth injury are very difficult to identify. In some cases, parents may not recognize the signs and symptoms of birth injury until later stages in the child’s development, i.e. during school preparedness testing, etc.

Newborn Brain Injuries

Of the possible injuries that can occur during childbirth, brain injuries tend to be the most severe. After spending months hoping for a healthy child, learning your newborn suffered brain damage because of a medical mistake can be devastating. Knowing the injury and the lifelong consequences could have been prevented only make matters worse.

Understanding the signs and symptoms of brain damage in infants or learning how to recognize symptoms of cerebral palsy in a newborn may be the last thing on your mind going into the delivery room. After you have left the hospital and have questions about whether your baby is developing properly, it may be first and foremost. If your baby was unable to breathe at birth or required resuscitation, experienced seizures, has a shrill cry or was kept in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) well after your stay, a brain injury may have occurred during birth.

If your child was diagnosed with a birth injury such as cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, or a brachial plexus injury, you should consult an lawyer to discuss obtaining the financial assistance you’ll need to provide the lifetime care your child will require. When a medical mistake causes serious, permanent injury, a medical malpractice lawsuit may be your best option to keep the same mistake from causing injury to another innocent newborn.

Do I have a case?

Whether or not you have a case can be difficult to determine on your own. While every case is unique and dependent upon the individual circumstances and set of facts involved, families generally have the right to pursue a birth injury case against the responsible health care providers if it can be shown that birth injuries were caused by substandard care provided by a doctor, nurse, or some other health care professional who treated patients during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Substandard care usually arises from negligence, which is a medical professional’s failure to provide treatment or care that any other careful medical professional in the same of similar situation would have provided. Understanding negligence and whether the conduct of medical professionals in your case rises to that standard is a matter best evaluated by experienced lawyers who regularly handle medical malpractice cases.

Who Can I Sue for a Birth Injury?

Some injuries to newborns during childbirth are simply the result of the birthing process; others are not. Those caused by a medical mistake or the negligence of your birthing team are preventable. Taking steps to hold the doctor, nurse, midwife, or hospital accountable for your child’s injury can help you secure the financial resources needed to provide for your son or daughter, as well as keep another family from experiencing the same kind of trauma.

Call us at 888-677-7764 to schedule an appointment.

At Freidin Brown, P.A., we have more than 100 years of experience helping people who’ve been harmed secure the compensation they need and deserve after a serious injury. We offer a complimentary consultation and we charge no upfront fees for our services.

Who Should be Held Responsible for Your Newborn’s Birth Injury?

A typical labor and delivery process involves many healthcare professionals. A mistake made by any of them could have lifelong consequences for your child. If your newborn suffered a serious injury during birth that resulted from medical malpractice or negligence, you may have a legal claim against:

Your doctor, including your obstetrician or the doctor who delivered your baby
The nurse(s) who assisted with your childbirth
The anesthesiologist who prepared your epidural
The hospital or clinic where you delivered
The midwife who delivered your baby
The pharmacy or pharmacist who mis-dosed medication
The manufacturer of a defective fetal heart rate monitor or other device that malfunctioned during childbirth
The drug company that designed and distributed a defective drug used during childbirth

It’s not uncommon to be unaware of something that went wrong at childbirth that is now causing your child to suffer. In fact, many families don’t make this connection until many years later when their children display signs of brain damage or other trauma.

At Freidin Brown, P.A., our lawyers do not expect you to have all the answers. That is where we come in. Our legal team can request medical records, talk to those involved in your childbirth process, and get to the root cause of your child’s birth injury. We will then advise you about your legal options in pursuing a birth injury lawsuit against the responsible party.

What will a successful birth injury lawsuit provide?

Successful birth injury lawsuits are important for a number of reasons. First and foremost, they hold negligent health care providers accountable for negligent and careless acts that cause harm, and can help ensure those types of mistakes are avoided in the future through the changes hospitals and other providers often enact after lawsuits. They are also critical to providing families with a sense of justice, and to providing financial compensation for their damages – including their economic damages (for things like medical expenses, lost income, and future medical or financial needs) and non-economic damages (which cover intangible losses and emotional injuries such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, and more). Because the outcome of a birth injury lawsuit is so important to families and their futures, working with proven lawyers becomes crucially important.

Do I need a lawyer?

There are no laws requiring you to have legal representation when bringing a birth injury lawsuit, but working with a lawyer is one of the most effective ways to protect your rights and put yourself in the best position to maximize the outcome. Birth injury and medical malpractice lawsuits are known for being challenging legal cases, as they involve complex laws and very technical medical information that requires investigation, medical expert collaboration, and extensive experience to effectively build. These cases are also very expensive, since you will be required to have experts testifying in support of your case. By working with lawyers like those at Freidin Brown, P.A., you can benefit from caring and compassionate advocates who truly care about your future and making you whole, and who have the experience, resources, and connections required of these matters. We take care of everything from start to finish, and we put up all the costs and expenses associated with litigating your claim – and we are only reimbursed if we obtain a recovery for our clients. Our lawyers have a proven record in birth injury cases and are prepared to put our insight to work for you.

Put The Experienced Miami Birth Injury Lawyers Of Freidin Brown, P.A. On Your Side

At Freidin Brown, P.A., our Miami birth injury lawyers are dedicated to pursuing the compensation your family needs to adjust to a life created by a preventable birth injury. When medical malpractice or negligence leads to a serious, permanent injury to your newborn son or daughter, we can help you obtain the compensation you need to provide for your child.

After a birth injury takes part of the joy away from your child’s birthday, the lawsuit may or may not be the last thing on your mind. Our lawyers will take care of the legal matters while you focus on your family. We operate on contingency, so you’ll pay no upfront fees when you work with us. You only pay if we win. Contact Freidin Brown, P.A. if you need legal representation.

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